Date of Graduation

Degree

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Committee Chair

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Subject Categories

English Language and Literature

Abstract

My thesis analyzes a focused selection of periodical essays and books written by Lady St. Helier, better known as Lady Mary Jeune. I provide a detailed analysis of her conservative writing on women's participation in politics and the advancement of female education, and how her views represent a uniquely female and aristocratic perspective that has not been examined by contemporary scholarship. Numerous scholars have examined Victorian Hellenism as a masculine discourse, but the field has not considered how women of the Victorian era were exposed to, or interpreted ancient Greek culture. My work examines the writings of a conservative female that initially supported traditional patriarchy, but evolved to support some advances for women, and provides a new layer of analysis to the Victorian Woman Question. The study of the feminine acquisition of Greek culture, and representations of Hellenism in the Victorian era are expanded by analyzing the writing of all female authors of the nineteenth century, including the aristocratic women who have previously been neglected by researchers.